No love left
by Miss Megz
Summary: Gabriel has come up with a new way to punish a certain angel and demon. It may have even worked if he hadn't overlooked one crucial thing...


Disclaimer: I don't own Good Omens. I don't even own an Amazon Prime account. I used my sister's.

Had Crowley known that his day would wind up with him being bound by irate angels, he would have stayed in bed or gone straight to the Bookshop rather than stopping to get some of those pastries his angel liked so much.

His head throbbed and his sunglasses broken, the frame bent in such a way that it surprised him that they were still sitting on his face. His hands were bound up to his elbows behind his back. If joints weren't more of a suggestion to him, it would be a little painful and impossible to free himself. As it was, it was a minor annoyance and while it would slow down his escape, it wouldn't stop it. He did notice that they hadn't brought any holy water so there was that.

"Find something new to try, have you?" Crowley sniggered, "thought it would have taken you lot longer to bother us. I mean, last time didn't work in your favour now did it?"

"Silence, filth," one of the angel's barked. The archangels were too busy talking amongst themselves to notice he was awake and annoying the angels guarding him.

"Hell can't get me to shut up, what chance do you think you have?" The angel frowned and tried ignoring the fallen angel. "Look, I get you're following orders but you should let me go. You think these binds can hold me for very long or that Aziraphale won't come looking for me?"

Gabriel finally walked over to him and plucked his sunglasses from his face, handing them to an angel. "I imagine the Serpent of Eden has many tricks for escaping. I can't help but wonder if you'll bother when there's no one to escape to."

The demon's blood ran cold and he glowered at the archangel, all fake good humour gone. "What have you done to Aziraphale?"

Gabriel smiled in a way many demons would give up body parts for. "Not a thing. I won't have to."

* * *

Aziraphale had been sitting in his shop adding to the wards he had placed in the building while he waited for said demon. The runes lit up shortly after he finished and cursing came from outside. The angel shook his head. It was as though every celestial and occult being forgot he was a Principality: an angel tasked with protecting Earth and educating humanity. He knew his way around something as simple as runes.

"Angel Aziraphale!" A grating voice called, "come out now!"

The angel scanned the runes, ensuring they would hold. "I'm so sorry, my dear, but I'm expecting company and it would be quite rude to not be here when they arrive."

The demon outside laughed maliciously. "If you're talking about the traitor, Heaven already has him."

Aziraphale was smarter than people gave him credit for. But, had he been a touch smarter, he would have kept the door shut. The angel tore the door open to see the demon holding out a very familiar pair of broken sunglasses with a faint sheen of demonic ichor on them.

"An angel delivered those. Way of saying they completed their job." The demon grinned and let the glasses fall onto the pavement. "No love left for you, angel." The word "angel" was spat like a curse. "No Heaven and now no traitor." The demon laughed and sank back into the ground.

* * *

The demon was getting bored. He had tried to shift into a snake but Uriel was watching him closer than he thought and more bindings were added to keep him in one form. "You lot aren't hoping I'll die of boredom, are you? 'Cause if you care, I gotta say, I expected more."

"Archangel, are you sure we can't at least gag him?" An angel grumbled.

"No, I want to hear if he has anything smart to say when he realizes." Gabriel shook his head.

"Realize what? That this is the longest any of you have been on Earth?" Crowley was working at the knots, if he could keep them distracted a little longer, he would be free. He paused when he sensed his angel looking for him. To his horror, his bindings lit up as Aziraphale's "eyes" passed over him, hiding him from his angel. He realized what they're plan was and began working more furiously on the knots.

"Nothing to say, demon?" Gabriel taunted and smirked when Aziraphale's searching stopped. "Aziraphale was cut off from Heaven's love months ago. Imagine our surprise when nothing happened."

Ice began to crawl up Crowley's spine but he pretended it wasn't. He glared at the archangel as he continued to pick away at the bindings. Still, he couldn't help but wonder what was going on; an angel cut off from Heaven had no choice but to Fall. But Aziraphale hadn't Fallen. He knows his angel hadn't, Hell would never accept him.

"I do have to admit, Aziraphale, is cleverer than any of us gave him credit for. He saw what was coming and changed his source. Probably had for some time." Gabriel gave him a pointed look. The answer was dawning on the fallen angel. "Using a different source would be difficult and the connection would need regular maintenance." Crowley thought back to Aziraphale holding his hand, the first time on the bus ride back to London; how the hand holding eventually became more frequent and led to sitting close to him on the couch. Crowley had assumed Aziraphale had finally caught up with him and didn't want to mention it in case it spooked the angel.

_Guess I should have said something_ he groused. The main knot was almost loose.

"Now you understand, filth?" Uriel sneered.

Crowley understood perfectly. Aziraphale would be destroyed without that connection and unlike Hellfire which was relatively quick, this would be slow. "Then you kill me when he'sss gone? Why not do that firssst?" He hissed.

"Who said we are going to kill you?" Sandalphon disparaged, "we know it was you who tempted Aziraphale away from us. It is your fault that we are now short a Principality. What better punishment than leaving you here to live the rest of your days with your mistake?"

Crowley glanced over at the angels who had been staring passively at him this whole time and finally understood their purpose; they would ensure he _did_ live with his regret.

* * *

Aziraphale couldn't find Crowley. He could always find Crowley. He could feel a chill settling into him that had nothing to do with his fear or sadness. He unfolded his wings and could see ice crystals beginning to form on the feathers.

The angel was sitting on his couch with the sunglasses in his lap before he had even realized he had moved.

"My dear boy," he croaked, his breath a mist in front of his face, "I'm sorry."

**_Why are YOU sorry? _**A voice asked. **_YOU aren't the one who took him away from you._** The voice made his skin crawl. If he had had the mental power left, we would have remarked on how similar it was to his own voice. He couldn't think much beyond the ice crawling up his wings. **_YOU were just following your purpose. Protect Earth, teach humans. That is your purpose. THEY wanted you to go against that and fight in a war that would destroy Earth and kill all the humans._** Shadows danced in front of hazy eyes; he was so cold. **_Then THEY took him from YOU. Punishing you for following your purpose. THEY should be sorry. YOU should MAKE them sorry. WE will make them sorry._** The cold was fading, a blazing heat replacing the ice. Frozen feathers thawed, black ink dripping onto the upholstery and floor. "**THEY tried to make me cold so I will make them suffer**."

Aziraphale stood up and cast his senses out again, this time looking for certain archangels rather than a particular demon. It didn't take long to find his quarry. He tucked the sunglasses into his breast pocket.

* * *

Crowley could feel a shift in the air and saw Aziraphale send his "eyes" out again but despite his work on the bindings, the "eyes" passed over him and focused on Gabriel and the other archangels. The demon's heart dropped into his stomach when he got a good look at those "eyes". They weren't glowing with holy light like last time, they were crying black ink.

The archangels felt the change as well and stared at the "eyes", dumbfounded.

"Archangel?" An angel queried.

Gabriel drew his flaming sword. The other archangels followed suit. The angels drew their own appointed weapons. No one was paying attention to Crowley anymore. He started working harder at the bindings.

The demon paused in his efforts when he heard Michael gasp. He looked up and saw Aziraphale, or whatever happened to wearing the angel's body.

The same black ink Crowley had seen earlier was also falling from his corporeal form's eyes. His wings were oozing with the stuff. It puddled around his feet as he walked.

Crowley chanced a look at his angel's ethereal form. The blinding light he always saw was being swallowed by the same black ink. The form was caught between crying in agony and shouting in rage. Every eye was crying the black ink and huge tears were materializing in the celestial body. "Oh, Angel." He winced and returned to trying to free himself.

"What is that?!" An angel trembled, griping their sword tight.

"His celestial body has been corrupted," Gabriel explained grimly, "it normally only happens when an angel is forced to go against their purpose. This must be because he polluted his celestial form with gross matter."

Crowley snorted at that. "You think his indulgence in food caused this? You lot are even dumber than I thought."

"Silence!" Uriel hissed. "There's no choice, we'll have to destroy him before the corruption has fully taken hold."

"What do we do if it does take hold?" An angel asked.

"Pray," Michael replied.

* * *

The fallen angel been distracted several times by the fight. Had this been any other time, he would have been cheering his angel on but now all he could do was work at his bindings.

Gabriel had been trying to take advantage of any openings the angels and archangels made but Aziraphale was too fast. Any blow the archangel attempted was immediately met with air or more black ink that was steadily becoming tar. For once he was glad Aziraphale didn't have his flaming sword.

Aziraphale tossed angels aside as though they were a fly rather than a celestial being trying to end him. Sandalphon was too slow to react to an angel being thrown at him and was knocked backwards, flaming sword falling from his hand.

Aziraphale now had a weapon.

Another angel made a desperate attack and landed with a wet thud with their sword arm several feet away. Gabriel cursed under his breath.

Aziraphale swat Michael and Uriel aside with a tar covered wing. Empty black eyes turned to the last angel standing. "**Is this all?**" The rough voice made Crowley cringe, nothing sounding like that should ever come from his angel. "**After everything you've said and done. I thought there would be more**."

"More?" Gabriel growled, ducking to avoid a strike and pivoting to avoid those tainted wings.

"**You've tried to turn me from my purpose, execute me when you failed, and destroyed all love in me. I thought you would be more of a challenge. You are, after all, 'the archangel fucking Gabriel'**."

Uriel grimaced as she stood. "Gabriel is not at fault for following the Divine Plan or for making an example out of you for disobeying orders." Gabriel watched in stunned horror as Aziraphale turned his attention to her. Uriel shot him a look saying _make your move, we won't get another_ with her eyes. "You're just a poor excuse of an angel. Couldn't even die right when you were cut off. At least your pet demon got that right."

Aziraphale was no longer even aware Gabriel existed as he readied his sword to attack Uriel. Gabriel flew in as fast as he could, intending on making good their one good shot. Crowley broke free as Gabriel's sword struck.

* * *

The tip of the flaming sword was embedded in Aziraphale's back, his right wing flopped as the muscles controlling it were severed. The motion of the blade caused the glasses to fall from his pocket and shatter further. "Crowley," the angel whimpered and cradled the broken sunglasses to his chest. Black tar seeped from the wound when Gabriel pulled his sword free. He raised the weapon to take the angel's head.

Crowley watched in horror as in slow motion the sword came down, he was too far.

The blade never made contact. The sword sailed away and landed near Crowley, the archangel's hand still gripping the hilt.

"I can't believe I'm about to do this," Crowley grumbled and got between Aziraphale and the bleeding Gabriel. "Come on now, Angel. Enough is enough. And that's me saying that." He wasn't sure his angel would even recognize him like this but the flaming sword hadn't moved. Crowley looked again at his ethereal form to see it was almost completely covered in the tar and the tears were now massive rifts; if Aziraphale killed Gabriel there would be no going back. The angel wasn't completely consumed, there was still hope.

"Pretty sure they've learned their lesson." He chanced a look at Michael who was nodding vigorously. "See? Besides, I can't take you anywhere looking like that. The tartan is bad enough."

The sword lowered a fraction. Crowley could see the tar thinning.

"See you found my glasses. Couldn't have brought me a new pair? You know I keep spares in the Bentley."

The sword's tip was almost pointed to the ground and bits of white were poking through on his wings.

Crowley miracle a new pair in his hand and put them on. "Much better. Too damned bright, even at night." He gestured to the sword, "aren't you the one always going on about the 'evils of theft'?"

The sword fell to the ground and for the first time Crowley saw recognition in Aziraphale.

"Crowley?" His voice was his again but filled with such fragile hope that it made the demon's heart ache. "Is that you?"

"'Is it me' like there's anyone out there as good looking as me." The demon moved forward and wiped away the remaining ink on his angel's face.

Aziraphale blinked at the ink smudged on Crowley's thumb. "Was that from me?"

He looked so lost that it was Crowley's turn to blink. "Angel, what's the last thing you remember?"

The angel hummed in thought. "I remember waiting for you back at the Bookshop. There was someone at th**e door**…" Crowley could hear the wrongness coming back to his angel's voice.

"Whoa! Hey! Nevermind, it's not important." Crowley immediately brought Aziraphale's focus back to him and away from those dark thoughts. "We can worry about that after we get you patched up."

Awareness to Aziraphale's eyes and he lifted his limp wing with his hand. "This is rather uncomfortable," he agreed.

Only after the two left did all remaining heavenly bodies return to Heaven to lick their wounds.

* * *

Crowley was hesitant to leave Aziraphale's side but something about how Gabriel carried himself with his healing arm in a sling told him that perhaps, this once, the demon could trust the archangel didn't have any plans he needed to worry about.

He closed the door to the Bookshop behind him. The angel's wards still holding strong. If the archangel was up to something, he wouldn't get his angel.

Gabriel shuffled where he stood, clearly not used to…whatever this was. "How is he?" He nodded at the door.

If this whole situation weren't so surreal, Crowley would be enjoying how uncomfortable Gabriel was. "He's doing better," the fallen angel replied. Aziraphale still had moments where the corruption tried to take hold but Crowley was quick to stop it and the attempts were becoming fewer and weaker. "You're not talking to him." Crowley folded his arms across his chest and gave his best "pissed off demon" look.

Normally, Gabriel would just give the demon an unimpressed stare but with how the awkward this whole conversation was he ignored it in favour of leaving that much sooner. "I don't have to talk to him." "Him" was still said with some bite but not much. The archangel had much of the fight beaten out of him.

Crowley could hear the angel inside puttering around. He could almost see his angel wandering about the shop with the bottle of booze in one hand and a rapidly emptying glass in the other. "So, you just came here to make small talk with a demon, then?"

"I came to inform you that in light of recent events, it has been decided that Heaven will not pursue the two of you. Aziraphale's connection has been restored should he want it." Gabriel straightened himself to try and regain his "holier-than-thou" air but Crowley just stood there. "Officially, his orders are to continue guarding Earth from the forces of Hell."

Crowley knew what that meant; head office made up the assignment as an excuse to not have to deal with them and save face. "And what about Hell? Doubt they care about this 'assignment'."

"Word may have been leaked that a demon on Earth is the only being stopping an angel from falling to corruption."

The demon snorted. Neither side wanted to have to deal with a corrupted angel. They were too powerful and would cause massive amounts of devastation to whichever side tried to stop them before they were eventually destroyed. The fact Crowley was the only thing keeping a time bomb from ticking would make Hell think twice about going after him. "That's it? After everything you lot did, that's all?"

Gabriel glared. "There is nothing more to offer."

Crowley smirked. "I guess an apology would be a bit much. Guess I'll have to settle for getting to watch Angel hand your asses back to you."

The archangel bristled but didn't rise for the bait. Probably for the best; Aziraphale had noticed the demon's absence and was heading to the door. Gabriel took the fallen's distraction to disappear.

The door opened. "There are, dear boy. Thought you had left." The angel looked for whatever had caught Crowley's attention. "You aren't leaving, are you?"

Crowley draped his arm across his angel's shoulders and laughed as he ushered him inside. "No, you're stuck with me, I'm afraid. Now pass me that bottle."


End file.
